Fear of the Dark
by Birgit Riddle
Summary: Another tormentor from Professor Crane's childhood pays the price.


"You know, fear of the dark is one of those fears that never really leave you…,"said Jonathan Crane aka the Scarecrow to his victim, who he had tied to a chair. "I vaguely remember hearing in elementary school that you thought that there was something in your closet that wanted to eat you."

The victim struggled to get free from the chair, but Crane had tied the knots too well.

"Normally I would've liked to hear your screams, but I think tonight just seeing the fear in your eyes would be enough," Crane grinned as he looked into the eyes of the man who struggled even more to get free and to shout.

Slipping a needle into one of the veins of his victim, Crane said, "Let's see…I'm only going to give you a tiny bit of fear toxin only because it will aid the story I want to tell you to you. It's a sort of…bedtime story…not your typical one, but I think you'll find it a suitable one for your next sleep."

Grinning again through his mask, Crane watched the man look even more frightened than he already was.

He stood up straight again and as he walked around his victim, Crane started his story using a carefully honed tone that he used especially for these moments.

"When you're a young child, you're afraid of the monster under the bed, the ghosts in the closet and the boogeyman in the shadows," started Crane in his own creepy manner, "Every shadow in your darkened room is always a potential nightmare waiting to eat you. The daylight may bring peace, but the night always comes again Mundane objects are transformed by the dark to ravenous goblins and ogres in the young mind, but mommy or daddy is always there to banish the shadow demons by the power of light.

"But mommies and daddies are afraid of the dark too."

The Scarecrow grabbed the man's shoulders and looked at him in the face from behind and continued, looking right at the man, "You're under the illusion that now that you're an adult, you're no longer afraid of the dark—but you still are. People never truly shed their fear of the dark. Instead of fading away, it becomes more real. You no longer have your mommy and daddy—you're all alone. You fear the shadows as you walk home from work, afraid that some madman will come out from behind that bush with a knife or maybe that tiger that escaped recently is skulking around waiting for a clueless human to ravage and eat."

A small mad giggle escaped from his mouth.

"Every sound frightens you—even the sound of your own foot stepping on a twig makes you startle as if you heard a gunshot instead. You think—_what was that sound?_—when you hear the wind blow through the trees, wondering if there really is such a thing as ghosts. No matter how many times you may try to ignore it, you can't get rid of that subtle, but gut-wrenching feeling that something is out there—watching you."

Quickly switching the side that he was looking at his victim from, the Scarecrow said with glee, "You rush home, pale and frightened—glad that no one is around to see your cowardice."

"Now you arrive, happy that you are finally safe—but when you enter your house—it's strangely dark and quiet. You assume that your wife has gone to bed early as she is apt to do so, but you can't get rid of that sickening feeling of foreboding."

He couldn't stop grinning at the story he was telling for the man's eyes were full of fear and he was struggling so much that the Scarecrow was full of glee that he had this power over him.

"You go up the stairs, swearing as you find out that the stairway light has burned out, but you still go up the stairs, more frightened now than you were outside."

"You now decide to check in on your sleeping daughter before joining your wife, but when you peek in, you notice a strange shape on the floor. It's long, about a few inches high. You can't make it out in the dim light, so you grope for the light switch and flip it on."

With those words, Crane turned on a light that brightened the whole room, revealing the dead and bloody bodies of the man's family, which made the man scream, muffled by the gag in his mouth. High on the power he had, Crane continued his tale.

"You're horrified by the sight that greets you—a sight of blood with your wife and daughter's dead bodies on the floor. Blood is everywhere—on the walls, ceiling and floor with satanic symbols all over," Crane started to pull out a knife as he talked, "This is the last thing you see for at that very moment, an unknown figure slits your throat from behind and it's all over for you and your family!"

And with that ending, the Scarecrow got his revenge on another one of his former tormenters.


End file.
